The Illinois PGA informally opened its tournament season this week, but it won’t be long until the section’s newest feature in the schedule kicks in. Team play will make its debut on May 13 at the first stroke play event at Schaumburg Golf Club. This is real team play, not best ball or foursome…
Author: lenz
LIV players made only a so-so showing at the 88th Masters
OCALA, Florida – The 87th Masters in 2023 was a big boost for the LIV Golf League. This year’s 88th, not so much. It’s inevitable, given the ongoing rivalry between LIV and the PGA Tour, that there are player comparisons any time both circuits have players in the same tournament. A year ago, in…
U.S. Open qualifiers tee off next week nation-wide
The year’s major golf championship ended on Sunday, when Scottie Scheffler’s last putt dropped, giving hims his second title in three years at the Masters. Though the second of the four majors, the PGA Championship, will be played in May the third major actually begins next Monday (APRIL 22) and the Chicago area gets…
Illinois flavor is lacking in this year’s Masters
The 88th playing of the Masters tees off on Thursday, and like every other staging, it’ll trigger golf enthusiasm throughout the world. The year’s first major championship is traditionally a sign of spring. The tour players are ready for a serious test after three months of tournaments of much lesser importance. That’s just the way…
Rahm still winless on LIV Tour but remains a Masters threat
MIAMI, FL. – Last year’s Masters was the first tournament where PGA Tour players competed against those who defected to the LIV Golf League. The LIV guys got the better of that one. Four current LIV players finished one -two-three and a tie for fourth. That spoke well for the Saudi-financed circuit that…
LIV Tour will return to Chicago after all — but at a new site
MIAMI, Florida – The Chicago area will have a major professional golf tournament this year after all. The LIV Golf League is returning, but not at Rich Harvest. Jerry Rich, owner of the Sugar Grove private club that hosted LIV events in 2022 and 2023, invited the fledgling Saudi-based circuit to return this year but…
Picking the Masters winner is getting even more difficult
It’s a golf tradition like no other. The Masters – first of the year’s four major championships — is coming up next week. That means for me – and many of you – it’s time to predict the champion. That fun competition is much more difficult in golf than any other sport. I covered my…
These new golf books are well worth reading
In the last few years I’ve developed a side writing project. Being a fairly voracious reader, I’ve been contributing book reviews to my social media outlets. By no means have these been limited to golf. I’ve written about books that I’ve enjoyed on a variety of subjects but have stayed away from reviewing…
Scheffler, DJ have final tuneup events leading into the Masters
Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler don’t play on the same pro golf tour any more, but their play will be intertwined over the next three weeks. Scheffler needed a week’s rest during the Florida Swing’s conclusion at the Valspar Championship last week, but – being a Texas native – he’s playing this week in the…
Malnati’s win at Valspar was a lifestyle-changer
PALM HARBOR, Florida — “Cinderella Story’’ is a term used way too much in the sports world. Peter Malnati certainly fit that description when he won the Valspar Championship on Sunday, however. Here was a 10-year member of the PGA Tour getting his second victory nine years after capturing his first. In seven previous Valspars…